


Imaginary

by vindiya



Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: sanctuary_bingo, Gen, Prompt: Old City Sanctuary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-05-10
Updated: 2012-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-19 05:52:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/197646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vindiya/pseuds/vindiya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Sanctuary fell, nothing could have stopped it. The Cabal's super vampires were too powerful regardless of the remaining members of The Five efforts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Imaginary

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for the prompt "Old City Sanctuary" on my sanctuary_bingo card. Alternate Universe after season 1.

He was dreaming.

It could only be a dream.

There was screaming. Will was just barely able to make it out, his focus elsewhere.

Fires raged in the aftermath of the destruction. There was still too much sensory information going through his head. Will was unable to process the situation. Someone grabbed his arm - started to pull him away and he shook them off.

This couldn’t be happening.

Clara couldn’t have died for nothing.

Something rocked the ground he stood on. He took inventory of the world around him - just barely seeing. There was a new fire in the distance, rising above everything else. He had the vague notion that something exploded. Something flashed at the edge of his vision and he turned his head to look. The last thing Will saw was Ashley’s claws as they raked down his chest.

So this is how it ends, he thought as he fell back to land in the muddy ground.

A few hours ago it was the courtyard.

\--

Will woke up in a dark room, the sound of dripping water reaching his ears. Pain rushed along his nerves making him groan. It wasn’t possible that he could still be alive. He was sure that the damage Ashley had done to him was only a step removed from death. Working through the pain he pushed himself up so that he was resting on his elbows.

The room was dingy with old and browning tiles covering the walls. An abandoned train station or bunker perhaps beneath Old City. There was a faint glow coming from the far left end of the room. To his right there was another bed.

“Magnus.” He breathed in shock.

Never in the days since taking his position at the Sanctuary had Will ever thought he’d see Helen Magnus unable to continue her life's work.

“She’s not dead if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Coma?”

“That would be the logical assumption now wouldn’t it. We’ve tried everything to rouse her. She always was stubborn.”

“Where are we?”

“An old bunker beneath Old City. You should have figured out as much by now young William.”

“Not now Tesla.” Will shifted grimacing at the pain that flooded his senses threatening to knock him back down. Moving slowly he managed to get into a sitting position, his legs hanging over the edge of the bed.

Tesla tried half-heartedly to stop him with a warning that he’d reopen his wounds, but didn’t try to physically stop him from moving.

“Who made it out?” Will asked trying to fill the empty silence. Helen wouldn’t have waited for him ask, she would have just given him the information straight away. She always moved, always planning; proactive as much as possible rather than reactive. Things were going to be difficult ahead if she wouldn’t come out of her coma.

“Techno-geek, the merc, Druitt, you, me, Helen. Oh! And the Cabals super vampires.”

“The Sanctuary?”

Tesla stayed silent raised an eyebrow at him and then finally answered after far too long a pause, “You were there.”

He turned and walked toward the door at the far end of the room.

“There’s a cup of pain killers on the table next to you. I suggest you take it.”

Will turned his gaze to the small plastic cup and stared at it for a moment. Several moments. He hated pills. It wasn’t psycho-drug therapy, but still they were pills. He’d rather writhe in agony than take them. Will moved so his feet were resting flat on the ground and tested how well he was able to stand. His muscles protested with throbs of hot pain radiating along his chest and abs. Gritting his teeth, Will forced himself to stand and started to walk, more like hobble, toward the door Nikola had disappeared through.

He only made it as far as the door, his breathing heavy from the exertion just to keep him standing upright. Tesla had said nothing about the severity of the gashes; he couldn’t be sure how true Tesla’s threat was about reopening them either. He wasn’t even sure how long he’d been unconscious in this old little room.

There were murmurs coming from the other side of the door. Mostly male but he could hear Kate in there too, providing what information she could. They were planning something – without him. Will glanced back over his shoulder at Magnus. If they were going to strike back they needed more than the tiny bits of intel Kate could provide.

“What about Will? It doesn’t feel right leaving him out of this.” Henry asked causing Will to stop and listen rather than join them.

“He’s healing, but he won’t be able to help us. He’ll weigh us down, which we can’t deal with for this plan.” Kate responded her tone snappy.

“She’s right. They’ll be expecting a counter attack. He’s better here where he can’t harm the mission and they can’t harm him.” John reasoned.

He had a right to weigh in on this discussion. He sucked with weapons and fighting, but he was intelligent and capable for the most part. He was going and they wouldn’t stop him.

“Don’t I have any say in this?” He asked pushing the door open.

“No you don’t.”

Will saw that answer coming as soon as the question formed, Nikola Tesla; ever the blunt one.

“Do you really expect me to take that answer at face value? I can help. I want to help.”

“Getting yourself killed isn’t going to help anything. If you really want to be useful go lay down and heal up. We’ll need all hands on deck before you know it.”

“Henry?”

“Sorry man. You have to admit you aren’t exactly cut out for the point and shoot deal.”

He wasn’t going to get angry. Not visibly. He could understand some of their motives. It didn’t change that he wanted to help. They all cared about Magnus; with the exception of Kate which made him wonder.

“Why are you helping us? Didn’t you have grand plans about starting a life on the run from the Cabal once the Sanctuary fell?”

“Maybe I was feeling nice.”

Will snorted (and it hurt to do so but he hoped they didn’t see that small grimace of pain). “Yeah right. You don’t do things for free.”

“How would you know?”  
“I remember you saying ‘who ever pays me the most gets my services’ not that long ago.”

“Things change.” She muttered walking round the makeshift table and out a door in the right wall.

\--

After Kate left there was very little talk in the common area. Druitt and Tesla sat and watched each other and Henry fiddled with circuit boards and wires. Will was left with very little in the way of things to say. Each was dealing with the destruction of their home in private. He left them to their silence. Returning to the make-shift infirmary, he sat down carefully on his bed facing Magnus.

“Things are bad Magnus.”

\--

That night, when the lights went out Will dreamed of the first time he saw the Sanctuary, the grandeur of its gothic architecture. The heavy stones that made up its walls and the huge windows that lit up the hallways. Magnus was giving him a tour, familiarizing him with a place that would one day take on the meaning of home.

He ran his fingers along the wood paneling that lined the walls. Remembering the texture every nick he possibly could.

On the outside the Sanctuary was a cold building with a long history. But within it was warm and safe filled with good memories and family. The residents were his patients and his friends and all that was gone now.

His dreams shifted from the sunlight of the evening he arrived. Night fell and a full moon rose visible through the bay window on the third floor. Fire rose from the West tower. The courtyard was flooding, somehow a pipe had burst.

Will ran through the halls trying to find Magnus, Henry, Druitt, anyone. They needed to regroup. The Sanctuary couldn’t fall. The Cabal couldn’t be allowed to win.

A flash of red in the corner of his eye and Ashley was standing before him. Her eyes red and she was snarling. Her hand raised claws extended; poised to strike. She didn’t move. Her eyes cleared and her hand lowered slowly to her side.

She whimpered and Will hung back unsure.

“You need to run. They’re going to be coming soon.”

He didn’t understand but didn’t argue and started to run as she stood back up to hold the line. Or at least that’s what he assumed she was going to do.  
“Ashley?”

“Run Will.”


End file.
